20 June 2001

TATAS SIGNING MOU TO MAINTAIN TAJ MAHAL

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Tatas will now manage not only the Taj group of hotels but the real Taj Mahal also, on an initiative of Ratan Tata reportedly accepted by Indian Tourism Minister Ananth Kumar.

A top-level meeting of the officials of the Union Ministries of Tourism, Finance and Human Resources was held on Wednesday with the representatives of Tatas and the Uttar Pradesh Government for transfer of the upkeep and management of the famous Taj.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been drawn up for signing by the Archaeological Survey of India and Indian Hotels Company of the Tatas on Thursday on what has been described as "joint upgradation of infrastructructure at Taj Mahal."

Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., has invited Tourism Minister Ananth Kumar and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, to his Hotel Taj Palace here Thursday evening to formally announce the signing of the memorandum.

Tatas will undertake maintenance of the Taj Mahal, which is one of the wonders of the World in white marble, and compensate its cost from the revenue earned from the tourists. It is a philanthropical gesture of Ratan Tata, the Tata executives said.

Sources said the Tatas are undertaking the responsibility not to earn any profit as they know that the earnings would be far short from the cost of the maintenance. They see it as a part of their share in maintaining the heritage of the country, the sources said, adding that it was their sheer love for this monument of love that they had chosen to name all its hotels as Taj.

It may be mentioned here that there is nothing surprising in the government handing over the heritage monuments in the possession of the Archeological Survey of India to the private organisations for their better upkeep than that by the government staff. It is a part of a policy decision under which many other places have been put under private managements and as such the government is not shirking from its responsibility by handing over the famous Taj Mahal to Tatas, the sources affirmed.  END